1st class,Rights,Equalit y,& Discrimination?

I don't think that communism is any more a route to contentment for all than is capitalism.
The societies that have less crime and higher levels of education and employment are those where the wealth gap between richest and poorest is small. We should be working towards that.

Is there difference between I equality and unfairness? I think so.
It is unfair that some people are disabled by illness.
It is an inquality if a access to help for the disability is only available to specific groups.

Children who come from dysfunctional families can't expect to have a safe home, to have access to education, and so on.
They start with a disadvantage.
Some overcome, some can't.

Oh course not Blinko a child born into poverty will never have the same head start or chances in life as a child born into wealth and prosperity . Nothing at all to do With choices made much later .

I have never envied anyone the things they've worked to achieve...actually I've never envied anyone anything.We've worked our socks off all our lives and have the things we consider important,a happy family and a nice home.We're not into holidays or expensive new cars ,or jewellery or handbags etc etc etc.So to many I'm sure we appear quite boring .
Isn't it down to peace of mind? Money cant buy happiness or equality but it sure as hell stops you being up all night worrying about the bills.So is true equality money related?

You seem to be confusing "equality"with "options". For most of us living in a first world country, there is equality of opportunity. We can expect to have a good education, health care, a safe home .

We also have the option to pay more for a higher level of service , a better experience than the norm, if we want to . So if we choose we can opt to pay for those 1st class tickets or to stay in the high quality hotel. That has nothing to do with equality, and everything to do with the choice to buy something more expensive if you want to spend your money on it .

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Annieb I wish there was one I could come up with. I'm waiting for one of the political parties to find the way to greater equality. So far, not so good, I'm afraid.

I would say that lower income families have less choice, and are able to offer their children less choice.
Then we have the whole issue about what people do with the choices they have.

And the answer Blinko?

Good post Maw. People can spend their money how they wish, if it's private health care, a large house or alcohol and riotous living it's their choice, we do seem to condemn people for having a good life style when in fact they have worked and saved for these things.
That's not to say opportunities should not be available to all.

Doesn't it all boil down to having options? To choose where we live, how we travel, whether we buy (arguably the best) healthcare? What gives anyone those options is surely money. No money means no options, no choice.

Some will make unwise choices in life or just unlucky choices. Some have situations thrust upon them through no fault of their own.

What does seem unequal is how most children born into the poorest families are going to find life a struggle.
Whilst children born to wealthy parents at least can choose which road they go down.

There was no reason for him to drink to excess. His wife took on all the responsibilities of running the house, she was the one who worried about paying the bills - he would just shrug his shoulders and laugh.

Is there a reason why he drank to excess?
Its been cited many a time in discussions here that alcoholism is an illness.
Self medication to manage dark feelings?

Even when people start out equal it is still up to the individual to make the most of themselves. My DH worked hard all his life often working a day job and then going out in the evening to work again, was never out of work and as a result by the time we reached 50 we were what people would consider "comfortable". His brother who had exactly the same opportunities did as little as possible, drank to excess and now complains about the poor quality of his life.

She has been married 50 years not 59 years ?

My friend and I were born in the same village, our grandfathers came from North Wales to South Wales to work in the pits. Our fathers were coal miners in the same pit. We went to the same school, then onto grammar school.

I flopped my A’levels, she did brilliantly. She went into medicine I into secretarial work. We married the same year, she has been married 59 years, I was married 8 years.

She own a lovely house, I live in a one bedroomed council bungalow, she and her lovely husband have pensions, I have pension credit. She holidays abroad several times a year, she has a car I have a mobility scooter.

Good for her, I am happy for her. That’s life . If I whinged about how lucky she is it wouldn’t change things, so much envy now.

Not quite true that we won't support a government which proposes tax increases.
In Scotland the government has used its taxation powers to increase income tax for higher earners while dropping it for those earning less (all at the rate of 1p in the £).

Agreed, Gillybob and PECS. The link between taxation and Government spending and their joint impact on attempts to level the playing field don't seem to register at election times or when financial legislation is being debated.

Agree "gillybob" and sadly it is hard to break the inequality cycle unless we all actively choose to do so. Small things, like the Sure start scheme, to support families living in difficult circumstances were beginning to impact but have been closed as part of 'austerity' measures . As a nation we are not willing to elect any government that stands on a platform of increased taxation & as that is the main source if revenue to start the ball rolling to tackle basic inequalities it will not happen.

Annie

Another wheelbarrow here.

Yes me too sadly MissA

I think I'm one of life's wheelbarrows.

Surely all Having started out equal is the key Elegran then what an individual chooses to do after that is up to them .

Sadly we do not all start out equal though so it’s a bit like the dog going round the Monopoly board 100 times buying up all the hotels and properties before the poor wheelbarrow has even thrown its first dice.

It would be accepted that if one person has a big luxurious house, wears Armani and eats three gourmet meals a day, while the other lives in a lean-to in a shanty town, wears ragged jeans and doesn't eat a lot, they are not equal.

But are they unequal if two people have equal amounts of money and one chooses to spend it on buying the big house and never leavbing it, and the other on tickets to travel the world with a backpack, sleeping in leanto's and eating sparingly of local food?